Senator Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran who fought in Iraq, torched Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his summit with top brass at Marine Corps Base Quantico, calling him “a laughing stock” inside the Department of Defense and “way out of his league.” Gallego told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Hegseth’s controversial meeting looked like an insecure power play, not serious leadership.
What was billed as a show of strength quickly curdled into a Washington spectacle. According to multiple critics, Hegseth used the microphone to sneer at “fat generals,” rail against “ideological garbage,” and declare the return of a hard-edged “warrior ethos,” a throwback message that landed with a thud among many career officers. Reporters on the ground captured the tone of the event, which veered from a fitness crusade to a cultural purge, with Hegseth daring dissenters to get on board or get out.
“It’s definitely clear that Secretary of Defense Hegseth is trying to compensate for something.”
Veteran and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego reacts to Hegseth’s controversial summit with military leaders this week in Virginia. pic.twitter.com/XmJ61dxpRX
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) October 5, 2025
Defense officials who spoke anonymously said the whole production could have been an email and was a total waste of money, the sort of made-for-TV theater that yanks commanders off real missions so a political appointee can measure his influence. Several described the gathering as something short of a loyalty test, but close enough to make people uneasy. The critiques spread across outlets as reactions from generals circulated online.
Hegseth criticized diversity and inclusion programs, mocked climate initiatives, and announced stricter height and weight standards along with biannual PT tests for everyone in uniform. The secretary’s crowd-pleasing lines played well with partisan audiences, but they also reignited a long-running debate about politicizing the ranks, and whether culture war riffs belong in a closed-door huddle of America’s senior military leaders.
Gallego, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, framed the episode as classic overcompensation. He argued Hegseth knows exactly how he is viewed by professionals inside the Pentagon, which is why he is trying to throw his weight around in public. In Gallego’s telling, that kind of posture does not command respect, it broadcasts insecurity, and it will not help him bend four-star generals to a TV-friendly agenda.
The Quantico meeting came amid a broader push by the White House to flex military muscle at home, with Trump and Hegseth hinting at using cities as “training grounds” and green-lighting aggressive domestic deployments that have already triggered legal challenges. Critics see an emerging pattern, spike the rhetoric, stage a rally, then dare the courts to stop it, while supporters cheer a long overdue crackdown on what they deride as a bloated and woke Pentagon.
Viral clips of Hegseth riffing about “fat generals” drew condemnation from veterans groups and active duty forums, which argued that public shaming from the top is not leadership; it is a morale killer. Commentators warned that the real world effect of culture war edicts will hit rank-and-file troops first, especially women and LGBTQ service members who could see standards and protections yanked in the name of toughness.
Hegseth is betting that discipline, spectacle, and a shake-the-tree message will cement his standing. Gallego and a growing chorus inside the building say the opposite is happening: the more he tries to play generalissimo, the more he looks like a talk show host in a uniformed world that is not buying the act. If this week is any indication, the Pentagon’s patience is wearing thin, and the backlash is no longer whispered in the hallways; it is spilling into prime time.
